Global smartphone sales fall for first time – Financial Times

_{By Daniel Thomas, Telecoms Correspondent}

Global smartphone shipments fell for the first time as “iPhone fatigue” dragged down sales for Apple’s once-unstoppable franchise amid a general weakening in the market for new devices.

After close to a decade of stellar growth, analysts say a tipping point in the smartphone market has been reached as most people already have a phone, phablet or tablet device.

Apple popularised the smartphone market with the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. The US group said this week that it had suffered a 16 per cent fall in unit sales in the first quarter and warned that the next quarter could be even worse, bringing to an end the company’s remarkable period of growth.

“Apple is facing iPhone fatigue and pressure is mounting for Apple to innovate a new wow design beyond its standard rectangle form factor,” according to Strategy Analytics, the market research group.

Apple was not totally to blame, however, as global smartphone shipments fell 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 to 334.6m, down from 345m units in the same quarter of 2015. The quarter was the “first time ever since the modern smartphone market began in 1996 that global shipments have shrunk on an annualised basis”.

Strategy Analytics also pointed to the increasing maturity of major markets such as China, which is the biggest country for smartphone sales in the world, and consumer caution about the world economy.

Strategy Analytics said that Samsung had shipped 79m smartphones in the first quarter, a 4 per cent fall from 82.7m in the same period last year, but remained the biggest in the market with a 24 per cent share for the quarter.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy S7 flagship has at least supported sales for the South Korean group, with a strong start for a device that has met with favourable reviews. LG and Sony also reported weak smartphone sales.

Of the three biggest smartphone makers, only Huawei, the Chinese telecoms technology group, showed any growth. Huawei remains the third largest smartphone maker with an 8 per cent share of global shipments, up from 5 per cent a year ago, following a 64 per cent growth in sales in the past year.

A number of lesser known companies are now also gaining market share, with Oppo, a cheaper brand popular in Asia, shipping 15.5m smartphones in the period to take fourth place.

The data from Strategy Analytics were countered by similar research from IDC, which found a slight rise in global shipments from 334.3m to 334.9m.

However, the IDC data showed the smallest year-on-year growth on record, suggesting that the trend is the same even if the numbers are slightly different.

“As the China market matures, the appetite for smartphones has slowed dramatically as the explosion of uptake has passed its peak,” IDC said.